Porsche 911 “Project Gold” is an Immaculately Restored 993 Turbo

If you're in the business of restoring classic cars, it helps to have a demo vehicle to show customers what you can do. For Porsche Classic, Project Gold is that vehicle. The Porsche division that specializes in all things vintage took a 993-generation 911 Turbo body shell and used its catalog of more than 6,500 parts for the 993 to restore it to original condition—but with a few modern touches thrown in here and there.

True to its name, Project Gold is finished in the same Golden Yellow Metallic paint of the 2018 Porsche 911 Turbo S Exclusive Series. The concept also features a black interior with gold stitching and trim, black wheels with gold accents, and gold lettering for the engine bay badges. Just like the original 993 Turbo, Project Gold is powered by a turbocharged, air-cooled flat-six engine. Here, it's tuned to 450 hp and mated to a six-speed manual transmission.

Porsche is announcing the news at Pebble Beach, but Project Gold won't actually debut in Monterey until next month at Rennsport Reunion VI, the massive Porsche gathering that takes place every three years at Laguna Seca. The car will be included in RM Sotheby's Porsche 70th anniversary auction, and proceeds from its sale will go toward the Ferry Porsche Foundation, a German non-profit focusing on children and education.

If you're thinking about purchasing Project Gold to use as your next weekend ride to Cars and Coffee, we have some bad news. The one-off 911 won't be street-legal and will be limited to driving on the track. Porsche tells us this is because Project Gold is based on a car that last left production in 1998, which means it doesn't comply with the much stricter regulations of today. In addition, the main goal of the project was not to produce a replica of a 20-year-old car, but instead to show what Porsche Classic is capable of when it comes to restoration and customization.

Still, if you want a modern take on the 993 Turbo that has been painstakingly assembled by hand using genuine Porsche Classic parts, this is the only game in town.